Log in Subscribe

Women Jurors

John Conway - Sullivan County Historian
Posted 6/5/20

It was June of 1937, and Town Boards throughout Sullivan County were debating when to allow women to serve on trial juries in local courts.

Although women had gained the right to vote in New …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Women Jurors

Posted

It was June of 1937, and Town Boards throughout Sullivan County were debating when to allow women to serve on trial juries in local courts.

Although women had gained the right to vote in New York nearly two decades before, there was no clear understanding that the right to be a trial juror was included. The U.S. territories of Wyoming and Washington gave women the right to serve on juries in the 19th Century, and Utah became the first state to do so in 1898, but most states still barred women from serving on juries even after they got the right to vote on a national level in 1920.

On May 24, 1937, New York granted women the right to sit on juries, passing legislation to take effect on September 1 of that year. That prompted discussions in each of the fifteen towns in Sullivan County: Since the towns were required to prepare a list of eligible jurors from town tax rolls in July—when women were still barred by law from consideration-- and that list was submitted to the county for use during the court term beginning in September—when women would be eligible-- should women be included on the list, or should their inclusion wait until the law actually took effect?

Fallsburg Town Clerk Mortimer Michaels took the initiative of writing to New York Attorney General John J. Bennett, Jr. asking for clarification, and based on the reply from Albany, the town became the first in the county to announce it would include women on its list of potential jurors.

“Jury Lists for Town of Fallsburg May Also Include Women” a headline in the July 2, 1937 Hurleyville Sentinel announced.

The Sentinel article included a portion of the Attorney General's letter to Michaels.

“In preparing your list of trial jurors the first Monday in July, you may add the names of eligible women so that they may be utilized after September first. Between July and September, only males on the list should be used. This does not bar your preparing for its effective date by adding the names of women so eligible.”

However, Bennett also made it clear that towns “could not be compelled” to include women on their list “before September first.”

Despite its announced intention, unexpected complications arose in determining the eligibility of women in the town, and Fallsburg soon abandoned its plan.

When the Liberty Register newspaper polled officials from each of the towns about their intention to include women on their July lists, ten of the towns said no, four had yet to decide, and only one, Forestburgh, indicated that its list would include both sexes.

“Fallsburg, the only township in the county to announce its intent of including women on its jury lists, has abandoned its plan, but women nevertheless will be called for jury service in the county this fall,” the Register announced in its July 15, 1937 edition. “The town of Forestburgh Friday night made up its list, effective September 1, and the names of 20 women were included with those of 30 men.”

The Register article noted that “several supervisors who were approached expressed favor of including women, but said also that it would be a dangerous practice this year because of doubtful legality of the move. When reminded that, according to an opinion of the Attorney General, naming of women for jury service would be entirely legal, supervisors interviewed said it was simply an individual opinion that might later be reversed by a court. Such a circumstance, they pointed out, could bring about invalidation or all court actions in which women had served as Jurors.

“They were unanimous in the belief that nothing would be lost by waiting another year.”

As an interesting aside, while throughout this article all references to the towns of Fallsburg and Forestburgh use the modern spelling of those towns' names, in the various newspaper accounts from 1937 that were consulted in researching this bit of history, Fallsburg was spelled with an “h” on the end and Forestburgh was not.

John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian. Email him at jconway52@hotmail.com.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here